


we built this house of memories

by manchestereye (orphan_account)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dan Howell Is Not A YouTuber, Gay, Gay Dan Howell, Gay Phil Lester, I Made Myself Cry, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Marriage, Moving Out, Nostalgia, Phil Lester Is Not A YouTuber, i will use that tag for every phan fic i write, pj and sophie are barely there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 18:16:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20119477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/manchestereye
Summary: digging through all of their things brings back special memories for dan. he's lucky to have phil by his side during all of it.





	we built this house of memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [icosmics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/icosmics/gifts).

> yeah ok i literally read a crack prompt about unicorn underwear and this stemmed from it. i hope u enjoy
> 
> icosmics has my heart i think y'all know that by now

dan and phil have been living together for a very long time in this way too small apartment, and now it’s time to move out. at first, they weren’t going to stay here for very long. it was meant to be a temporary place of living while dan and phil was working on getting their degrees and while dan didn’t have a stable income yet.

they predicted to be there a year at most. it’s been four now. phil never bothered to find somewhere else after getting his bachelor’s. dan dropped out and ended up getting a job at the local bookstore. they’re happily married too now. back then, they were oblivious best friends in love with each other.

dan’s crying while they’re putting things in boxes together, he’s always been a sap for nostalgia. phil is too, sometimes. he stumbles across a photo of the phil in unicorn underwear.

-

_ it’s 7:30 in the morning, neither of them went to bed. to be fair, they did drink redbull around 1 am so that they could finish putting together a bookcase. they stripped to their underwear halfway through because it’s hot as fuck, because it’s summer time, and london doesn’t really have air conditioning. (both dan and phil had a breakdown trying to deal with the so-called portable air conditioner, so they never bothered after that.) _

_ they’re playing around with bubbles just for the fun of it, because they’re adults and no one can stop them. plus there’s no rule in the lease about bubbles. _

_ pj and his girlfriend walk in at that moment, because they’re neighbors and phil gave them a key incase of an emergency. _

_ “what the hell are the both of you doing in unicorn underwear? and why are there bubbles?”  _

_ his voice interrupts them, and it startles dan to where he falls off the couch.  _

_ “it was a sale! and what are YOU doing here?” dan asks. _

_ “i heard yelling, sophie said we should check it out. we’re just gonna walk out now…” pj says goodbye to phil and when he’s out, they go back to their bubble fight. dan takes a picture of phil with the digital camera that was left on the coffee table sometime that morning. _

_ this was the moment that he knew he was in love with phil. _

-

“jesus christ, dan. pj kept making fun of us for weeks because of that underwear.” phil laughs.

“you still wear it every now and then.”

phil shoves him. “they’re comfy!”

they move on to packing more stuff. phil’s packing the rest of the stuff in the bedroom while dan’s moved on to the bedroom.

phil barges in holding a one-inch binder. it’s the one where all of their important documents are. they didn’t have a use for that thing until phil shredded his birth certificate once. he thought it was just a duplicate! he didn’t think his mum would send the only copy of it!

“you scared me! you could’ve knocked!”

“sorry. look at this!” phil opens up to where their marriage certificate is.

-

_ dan was heartbroken. well, not really. he was only seeing the guy for three months and it wasn’t true love or anything. but the fact that he was cheating this early in the relationship just made dan feel like shit.  _

_ so he whines about it to phil, and they get piss drunk at 3 in the morning. honestly, when aren’t they awake at 3 in the morning? _

_ phil gets the wonderful idea to go egg and teepee the other guy’s house. _

_ “phil, that’s stupid. we’re not teenagers. we could go to jail!”  _

_ he waves him off. “don’t be silly, he deserves it! no one messes with my best friend like that.” _

_ they walk to tesco and buy the eggs and toilet paper. they’re stumbling around because they’re drunk, and leaning onto each other so that they don’t fall. _

_ getting a cab or going on the tube would probably result in their deaths, so they walk. “it’s good exercise,” dan mumbles. he’s joking around, mostly because dan never really exercises and neither does phil. _

_ it takes them a while to find the right house, but when they get there they go ham.  _

_ “i’ll throw the toilet paper, you throw the eggs!” dan slurs. _

_ “deal!” _

_ this is when neighborhood security conveniently shows up and oh shit they’re in trouble. _

_ when they get escorted to the police station, dan’s scared that he’s going to get thrown in jail for this. he’s glaring at phil since he was the one that came up with it. _

_ instead they’re released in the morning. they’re both very hung over, but they still have to walk home because they didn’t have anymore money for a cab or the tube. _

_ they’re temporarily stopped at a bench. the alcohol still hasn’t really left their system yet. _

_ “hey dan?” _

_ “what’s up?” _

_ “i’m actually kinda glad that things didn’t work out between you and him.” phil admits. _

_ dan’s curious. “really?” _

_ “i was always jealous of him.” _

_ dan’s blushing right now. “he didn’t mean anything. to be honest, he always complained about you.” _

_ phil makes a disgusted face.  _

_ “i actually like someone else instead...makes me sound like a douche but honestly i’m lonely.” dan laughs. “fuck, phil. it’s you. i’ve liked you for a while.” _

_ “and i like you too.”  _

_ dan kisses phil.  _

_ “i honestly hate myself for being so fucking stupid.” dan laughs. _

_ “you know i’m stupid for youuu.” phil sings. _

_ dan links his hand with phil’s. _

_ they’re passing by a courthouse on the way home. _

_ “let’s get married!” phil says. _

_ “we literally just got together twenty minutes ago.” dan rolls his eyes. _

_ “don’t care. we’ve been friends for a decade. we’re not leaving each other anytime soon.” _

_ this surprises dan, because phil’s not normally this impulsive. it’s cute though. _

_ so they get married and have an unofficial ceremony that day, and it’s definitely an unforgettable memory. _

-

“we got so much shit from your parents about not having a proper wedding.” dan says, kissing phil on the cheek before packing stuff again.

“it saved us time though!” phil laughs. dan knows that he’s joking, it’s been an inside joke between them since they got married.

“the wedding didn’t even happen in the apartment, did you really have to make me nostalgic over it today?” he asks.

“it’s a nostalgia day apparently.” phil shrugs. he leaves to go pack again so that he’s not completely off schedule and distracted.

when dan brings the box of bathroom stuff to the lounge where the other boxes are, he sees that there’s a framed photo of the both of them peeking out of one of them.

it’s from the day that dan got his associate’s degree. he never transferred to do his bachelor’s because it was too expensive after getting disowned by his father. he was the one paying for dan’s tuition up until dan came out as gay.

-

_ when he got his associates it was definitely a proud moment for both dan and phil. even if phil didn’t go to the same college and was moving on to get his bachelor’s degree, he was still immensely proud of dan. why wouldn’t he be? phil’s always proud of dan’s successes and vice versa. _

_ dan was slightly bummed that no one from his family came to see his graduation, but phil cheered him up by taking the two of them out for ice cream after the ceremony. _

_ “family’s what you make it, dan. we’re perfectly fine being a family of two. my mum also thinks of you as family too since we grew up together.” phil says. _

_ he feeds dan a spoonful of ice cream just for the fun of it, and it’s something that dan finds domestic and cute. _

_ “you’re right. i’m proud of myself for getting that damn associates!” dan says confidently. _

_ they spend the rest of the day together, like they always do. today’s different though, definitely much more special than the rest. phil took dan to the aquarium and to the museum, because they’re cultured like that. _

_ dan could feel himself falling more in love with him, as cheesy as that sounds. sure, it’s not a perfect relationship, and it has its ups and downs, but he feels so lucky to have phil.  _

-

it’s wrong to think of your significant other or partner as your savior when you have mental health issues that run deep, dan realizes. he can’t really help it though, because phil has kept him safe for as long as he can remember. 

this apartment will always have a special place in his heart because it signified a new beginning for both of them. he feels like this new house will also be a new beginning.

“dan, are you alright?” phil asks, walking in the living room.

dan didn’t even realize he was crying, but he wipes his tears away and shows phil the photo.

“that was a wild day, but it was a good day. it’s a good day as long as i’m with you.” phil says. he puts a hand on dan’s back.

“we’ll have more good days in the new place, yeah?”

“definitely.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading i cried writing this
> 
> tumblr: fearoftryinq


End file.
